Eliana spotted hundreds of them walking around and stumbling over rocks, looking decayed. Skeletons with missing body parts carried swords, shields, helmets and pieces of metal armour. Translucent apparitions flew all around them as a blue fire seemed to come out of their mouths.
Shivers ran down her spine as she observed the army arrayed against them. What was worse, a red flash appeared and disappeared continuously, flying all over the place. She blamed her tired eyes, but there was something dangerous about the way it moved. Just as she was about to jump down the tree, the red flash stopped mid-air and looked her straight in the eyes, promising death in a hundred ways.
"Hold it together!" Eliana snapped at herself, shaking the feeling of dread. She needed to inspect the creatures so she could report to the group.
Eliana turned her back towards the cemetery and dropped down the tree, almost breaking her ankle from a bad fall. She was too nervous to take things slowly, so she ran towards her friends and the safety their numbers provided them.
"It's worse than we thought. Maybe because it's night, or maybe Razor hadn’t spotted them all. There are at least a hundred skeletons and rotten corpses each, a few dozen ghosts and-" She trailed off, thinking about the reddish glow and the eyes that looked straight into her soul.
"And what? Did you see something even worse?" Laney asked, putting her arm around Eliana.
"There... seemed to be a ghostly apparition that was red, but I only caught glimpses, and nothing really substantial until it stopped and looked straight at me. I swear, never in my life had I been more frightened than at that moment." She looked around as if not to be overheard. ‘I almost peed myself,’ she whispered.
"Shit. That's far worse than we thought the situation would be," Kaden replied, his eyes focused on Razor who perched on his shoulder.
"Sue me. I can only see what I see, not what is hidden under the ground or beneath the brush," Razor replied nonchalantly, flapping his wings.
"Right. Nothing changes the fact that there is a shitload of monsters to kill," Pooky added, putting down the mobile ballista. "There is one thing that will go in our favour, even though it's only a small one. I just got my [Inferno] back to one out of three uses, so Kaden should have his [Frozen Land] back as well. They could get us out of a potentially bad situation."
"Potentially bad? You don’t call these odds bad?" Laney asked angrily.
"Very true. I just got mine back as well. Still got the [Flood] uses, but the area of effect is just too small to be effective. And there is no need to snap at each other. Is anyone at fault here? Not really."
"Ugh, whatever," Laney snarled back.
"We need to set this up in a way that will let us use the ballista. Also, knowing what ghosts are, I doubt that a normal weapon or arrow will damage them. We need to prepare thoroughly before we tackle the cemetery," Kaden said. The three looked at him questioningly.
"We won’t be able to see anything soon. You do realise that, right?" Eliana commented.
"I can try imbuing her arrows with fire, as well as the bolts. Though I doubt that they will last long before the shaft burns up. Your ice arrows and weapon stay that way for a long time, but I have no idea about my own magic," Pooky said, sticking his hand out towards Eliana. She handed him an arrow and frowned; her look was one of pain, as if she was handing out a child.
Pooky took it in his meaty paws and stared at the arrow for a while. After a good minute, his face went red and his hand started glowing like a flame. The arrow’s tip caught fire, and stayed that way for the next ten seconds. It went on to half a minute, then a few minutes longer until it burned out at ten minutes.
"I wonder if my ice arrows will disappear as well in ten minutes," Kaden murmured. "Alright then. I have an idea." The group looked at him skeptically, but he didn’t show them that it bugged him. "Pooky, can you plant the ballista high up on a tree? I would like for Laney to take shots with it, while Eliana will use her own bow and our elemental arrows. Of course, we need to imbue a few ballista bolts as well for them to be effective."
"Fine with me either way. I just don’t feel like dying, so if it’s me or the stupid ballista, I'll drop it and run, just so you know," Pooky murmured under his breath. Kaden knew that the bear would do everything in his power to protect the weapon if need be, short of dying to save it, so he paid him no heed. After all, their lives were more important than anything else, and the ballista was just the thing that was going to keep them alive.
"I wouldn’t have it any other way, my friend," Kaden said, offering his hand to the bear. Their relationship had been somewhat strained since they met, but there were signs of improvement by the moment. Pooky shook his hand firmly, pressing a bit harder than he should have, just to show Kaden who was stronger.
"Mind games. Pay them no heed," Razor croaked within his mind.
"You know, it’s very annoying when you do that, you just pop up inside my head and state something obvious and stupid," Kaden replied.
"Eliana, please give us all of your arrows. I'll start imbuing half of them with ice magic until Pooky is done with setting up the ballista, then I will do the bolts and Pooky can start on the arrows. How much of them do you have?" Eliana chuckled, handling over the quiver.
"A whole lot, boss," she replied teasingly. "Be careful you don’t freeze yourself instead," she added, laughing together with Laney. He looked up with a raised eyebrow, staring the two women in the eyes.
"How about I freeze the two of you together?" They didn’t seem to care about his words and chuckled again. "Anyway, how about you buff us so we can start?" Laney shrugged, and cast all of her buffs. The familiar sensation coursed through the group, feeling just like the first time.
Pooky ran off with the ballista held over his shoulder, and climbed up a larger tree just shy of the forest edge. Kaden threw himself onto his job, taking half of the arrows. He started imbuing them one by one. It took about ten seconds for each arrow, and at the fifteenth, a chime rang out in his mind.
Debuff received: Spirit loss. Every Imbue Magic skill while under the effect of Spirit loss will sap your health by five points. Duration: 60 minutes
Kaden cursed at the debuff and looked down at the arrows. He was roughly done, he only had five arrows left to do. In addition to losing his health, the pain was getting far worse with each arrow as he finished them.
"Oh fuck!" he said, rubbing his hands together to alleviate the pain. "This debuff is horrible. Please cast one of those spirit spells on me, Eli." The bunny woman raised her hand and cast the spell, engulfing his body in a white aura. Immediately, some of the pain disappeared, leaving him in a blissful state.
"You know, maybe we should take a moment to appreciate everything around us. Just look at the beauty," Laney said, drawing the attention of the group. Just then, the beauty came to the foreground. It was nothing like the forests on earth, but then again they were almost identical. The trees were thicker, higher and a lot denser, the soil hard as rock. Leaves were far larger and made in all kinds of shapes colors, some even changed constantly. Large insects flew and crawled around.
"Yeah. Makes you want to go back when you see a spider the size of a house or something," Kaden murmured. He sighed, and turned back towards the large bag and took out some bolts. In the same time he did half of Eliana’s arrows, Kaden only managed to do nine bolts before dropping to the ground, exhausted and shivering. Half of his arms were covered in frost and looked ready to break.
"Now there, buddy. Here, warm up some," Pooky said, kneeling beside him while imbuing a large log with fire. It shone brightly around them and cast enough warmth around for them to feel comfortable. "Now, let me take care of the arrows."
"He hungers for battle. Just look at his facial expression, and the way his veins are bulging outward. Scary, if you ask me," Razor butted in again. Kaden just sighed without a reply.
Sometimes later, everything was prepared. They needed to act quickly for the imbued elements not to wear off and be wasted.
&nbs
p; Both Pooky and Kaden inched closer towards the cemetery, while Laney and Eliana stood atop of two large branches crossing over, making them very sturdy. Razor flew up and changed to his full size, his wings and talons shimmering like knives.
"Razor. Try to group them up, will you?" Kaden said mentally.
"When will you stop using me to do your work, you nasty little thing?" The bird responded by sweeping down between the undead creatures and blocking their way into the cemetery. Kaden stood there infuriated, and tried to come up with a retort, but failed miserably.
"I’m going to eat you, just so you know. Even if it kills me, one day I'll eat your meat," Kaden snapped back at the bird, but he just seemed to be even more amused by his anger and lack of imagination.
Razor swirled and moved in between the undead as if he was born to do so. Kaden fought the urge to praise the bird, who had managed to get basically everything that hadn’t been inside of the walls to come after him. A good hundred skeletons, zombies and ghosts were on their way toward the two elemental magicians.
SWOOSH
The ballista bolt flew past Kaden and slammed into one of the corpses, exploding as it struck the ground dead center in the enemy assault. The blast wave knocked the nearest enemies down, while the massive shards passed through anything they came in contact with. Everything seemed to freeze upon contact, adding to the shrapnel bomb that the bolt had become.
The monsters didn’t have a chance against the element that seemed to be wreaking havoc in their ranks. Within a few heartbeats, Razor streaked between the monsters, shredding them apart with his razor-sharp wings. They slid through the rotten flesh and bone with unbelievable ease. Just as he was about to fly up, a lucky strike hurt his wing. Kaden winced at the pain and cursed, shaking his right arm as he tried to ease the pain. His health didn’t go down, however.
SWOOSH
A second ballista bolt struck a dozen meters further into the line of the enemy, into the thickest of what remained of the undead force, exploding on impact. Everything in the near vicinity caught fire as the flame spread like a tidal wave in all directions. The corpses exploded, the bone melted after a couple of seconds, while the ghosts just disappeared from existence.
"Sure works as advertised," Pooky commented while taking out his hammer and lighting it up. He looked at Kaden and winked once. ‘Coming?’ he said, rushing on. Kaden shook his head and chuckled, adding ice to his own weapon, and ran after the bear.
Pooky roared as he set foot on unholy cemetery ground, and unleashed a [Fireball] at the closest skeleton with full health, and slammed the spiked end into a second, killing it instantly. He staggered forward as a mace caught his back, but it only did seven damage to his health bar. "Now this is what I’m talking about! Fuck sorcery! Let me get up close and personal!" he roared.
"Don’t go too far in," Kaden yelled after him, his staff killing the skeleton that attacked Pooky from behind. Turning around, he shot out an [Ice Orb] at an incoming ghost and killed it outright. The things didn’t have much health, but there were hundreds, so the enemy would easily overwhelm them if given enough time.
Pooky’s hammer connected with two skeletons that attacked him simultaneously, shattering their bodies in one fell sweep, while he backhanded a third. A ghost found its way within his guard and slashed at him with magical damage, drawing seventeen health. He looked at his bar, only to see he was at 417, which was still enough to fight on for a while.
A hail of arrows passed by him, slamming into some rotten corpses and lighting them on fire. A ballista bolt found its way to their right and lit more enemies on fire, creating a wall of flame that prevented the enemy from storming their flanks.
Kaden sent another [Ice Orb] into a group of three ghosts. He killed two as the spell passed through both, but missed the third. A [Magical Bolt] ended the last one as he turned, only to get hit by a rotten fist that sent him sprawling.
You have sustained 21 damage from Rotten Corpse.
"We can do this, right?" Kaden said as he got up again and stepped back into the fight. Pooky laughed madly, swinging his great hammer. A chime drew his attention for a moment before he returned to battle. Now was not the time to check messages.
SWOOSH
The fourth bolt was imbued with fire and slammed into the approaching horde, lighting up the horizon. A [Pillar of Fire] rose out of the ground, and flew straight into a group of ghosts that had been chanting a spell in unison.
Kaden, seeing that they were about to get overwhelmed, cast his [Flood] to gain some ground A five-meter-tall wave rose up and slammed into the wall of bones and rotten flesh, killing off what was left after Pooky’s spell.
You have inflicted 1.102 damage to Rotten Corpse.
You have inflicted 1.005 damage to Skeleton Warrior.
His health dropped as one of the corpses bit him, catching him off guard from the flank, de-buffing him as well.
You have sustained 17 damage from Rotten Corpse.
Debuff received. Slow: Movement speed decreased by fifty percent. Duration: 30 seconds
"The fuck?" he roared out and slammed the butt of his staff on top of the corpse’s skull, finishing it off. Another [Pillar of Fire] rose up near him and engulfed three more ghosts in scorching flame. They howled like banshees as their health dropped quickly to zero.
"Step back. We need some space to maneuver," Pooky said, slamming his fist into Kaden’s chest and rocking him back a few steps. "Sorry," he followed up, not looking back. A storm of arrows flew past them and slammed into what was in pursuit.
With a roar, a [Fireball] streaked into the last ghost and halved its health. Kaden sent his [Ice Orb] flying to kill it off. The orb impacted the incorporeal body of the ghost, and a moment later, it faded into nothingness.
Not giving them even a single moment for a breather, the earth started rumbling, turning over gravestones, toppling trees and whatever wasn’t dug deep enough into the ground. The lone crypt opened up and let out a mass of new skeletons, far larger than the previous ones, accompanied by more corpses and ghosts. Behind them walked out a massive skeleton with a monster icon flashing next to its name, Skeleton King Renzar, and a ghostly apparition flashing red, Shade Queen Freya. The massive skeleton held an even more impressive halberd in its bony hands.
"Shit. So she wasn’t wrong after all. What are those things?" Kaden asked, inspecting the two newcomers. Upon seeing their stats, he gasped.
"Not good," Pooky said, walking backwards toward a wide-eyed Kaden.
"Well hello there," the Shade Queen spoke up, startling them even more. Eliana screamed like a little child, as the same eyes from earlier bore into hers.
"Ahh! It speaks!" Kaden squealed.
"Insolent creature! Do you think us any different from yourself? You may be alive for now, at least, but soon you will be dead just like us," she added.
"What do you want?" Laney called out from atop of the tree with a bravado that felt fake. She aimed the ballista on the queen, and her finger seemed to itch for another shot.
"What do we want? We want you to go back where you came from! This tomb leads into a dungeon where fierce creatures await. It must not be disturbed, as it houses an item of great power!" the shade screamed at her. "It must not get into anyone’s hands, or the balance we have fought so long to keep could be very well destroyed!"
"Balance?" Kaden asked, forgetting all of the fear he felt moments before. "What balance? God himself sent us here to get him that item!" The queen laughed at his rebuke and looked at her king, who finally spoke up.
"Your god has turned us into what we are now!" the skeleton yelled angrily. His voice was like gravel, rough and hard. "We, just like you, were once brought to this world in order to play his little games. After some back and forth, he decided that we weren’t to his liking, so he turned us into what you see now," he added with a calmer tone. "Now, we are to be killed, just as he promised us thousands of years ago. Go ahead and do it, see what you will sow when he gets his hand
on the artifact!"
The Skeleton King lunged, his halberd outstretched. The blunt tip slammed straight into Kaden’s chest, sending him flying into a gravestone. Multiple ribs were broken, and a pain equal to that of his his first death shot through him as he screamed in agony.
You have sustained 88 damage from Skeleton King Renzar.
"No!" Laney screamed and unleashed a bolt in their direction. It didn’t strike the king or queen, but it made them retreat as the flames of hell unleashed all around them as the bolt exploded upon hitting the ground. The flames only did minor damage to the two, cleaving off some three hundred health off their health bars. The queen screamed in turn, debuffing the group.
Debuff received. Faint of Heart: Reaction speed -50 %. Duration: 30 seconds
Everyone was disoriented for a few seconds and almost toppled over. Perception and speed were halved, but not how they would have imagined it. They couldn't think fast enough for their bodies to move the way they wanted them to. Then, the strangest thing happened. The two retreated towards the crypt as the horde unleashed themselves upon the two men crawling on the ground. At the last moment, Kaden thought of using the only thing that could help them now.
[Frozen Land]
The whole procession froze up, as they had been too cramped up next to each other. Within seconds, the ice had built up and exploded, killing most of the creatures, as well as damaging the king and queen. But still, they didn’t come forward, instead the two stood back near the crypt as if awaiting something.
"Why aren’t they attacking?" Kaden asked as he got up slowly.
"Beats me," Pooky replied, giving him a helping hand. By the time he got up a new bolt was fitted on the ballista, and the lapse returned to normal. The two women were still on top of the tree, while the two men just stood outside the cemetery bounds.
"Shoot them again," Kaden motioned for Laney to proceed. There wasn’t much they could do but attack, so they got to it. "Use your best spells," Kaden whispered just as the bolt shot past them and straight into the Skeleton King. As he tried to deflect the bolt it cracked, embedding itself within his bony shoulder. It ripped off his arm and did massive damage, staggering him backwards.
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